BookBlast® is delighted to bring you news about this year’s The Children’s Bookshow. The much loved and hugely popular national tour of writers and illustrators of children’s literature brings the joy of books and reading to children across the UK each autumn. A series of free workshops runs alongside the performances in the theatres.
“The Children’s Bookshow takes children’s authors to meet tens of thousands of children, introducing children to how and why writers write, illustrators illustrate. They give children insights into how they too can transform thoughts and feelings into words and pictures. This is not simply a matter of it being enjoyable, it’s a necessary part of what we understand by the word ‘education’,” Michael Rosen
Joining bookshow stalwarts Michael Rosen, Owen Sheers and Frank Cottrell-Boyce, this year’s lineup includes: Katherine Rundell, Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson, Matt Goodfellow, Rebecca Cobb and Mariesa Dulak, Catherine Rayner, Yasmeen Ismail, Catherine Johnson, Alom Shaha and Sarthak Sinha and SF Said.
This year the tour runs from 9 September, 1.30 pm, at Blackpool Grand Theatre and ends on 17 November, 11 am, at Peterborough New Theatre.
Highlights of the Children’s Bookshow 2025, authors and illustrators . . .
Katherine Rundell, author of Impossible Creatures, a fantastical adventure that blends elements of mythology, science and the power of imagination — winner of the Costa Children’s Book Award, the Blue Peter Book Award, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize; and selected as the Book of the Week by The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, and a Sunday Times bestseller in September 2023.
“There was Tolkien, there is Pullman and now there is Katherine Rundell,” Michael Morpurgo
“A marvellous, imaginative fantasy told with great style and sparkle – a book to race through in a day and keep for a lifetime,” Jacqueline Wilson
Christopher is stunned when he discovers a passage to the Archipelago: a cluster of magical islands where all the creatures of myth still live and breed and thrive in their thousands. He meets Mal: a girl from the islands, who possesses a flying coat and a baby griffin; she is being pursued by a killer. Together they embark on an urgent quest to discover why the creatures are suddenly dying, travelling across the wild splendour of the Archipelago, where sphinxes hold secrets and centaurs do murder, in a bid to save both the islands and the world beyond them from a rising evil.
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson (illustrator) follows CJ and his Nana from church to the bus stop,
getting in to the bus and staying until the last stop, from where they walk to their destination. The richness and originality of this book lies in the people they meet along the way and the dialogue. CJ is restless and dissatisfied, and wishes he had a car, headphones, freedom and more. Nana, steady and shrewd, counters each complaint with grounded wisdom, manifesting thoughtfulness in her outlook and the purpose of their journey. Warm, witty and wise, she embodies the quintessential grandmother figure: familiar, beloved and calm in her profundity. Last Stop on Market Street has won multiple awards and stayed at the number one spot in the New York Times Bestseller List for some weeks.
BUY Last Stop on Market Street
Michael Rosen’s Big Book of Bad Things captures the raw comedy, sadness and wonder of childhood with unmatched honesty and playfulness. A giant in children’s literature, Rosen’s voice is warm, fearless, and deeply human — inviting readers of every age to laugh, reflect and share poetry as a lived, communal joy.
BUY The Big Book of Bad Things 
The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow, illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton, is a free-verse narrative told through the voice of ten-year-old Nathan Wilder, whose warmth and resilience illuminate every page. Eldest of three brothers with different, absent fathers and a mother numbed by bingo and cider, Nathan quietly shoulders responsibility for all of them without complaining. The grief beneath his mother’s neglect is clear to see. His bond with football-mad Jax and hyperactive Dylan is tender and heartwarming, while the haven offered by his loyal friend Parker Smith provides glimpses of ease and belonging in a world of scarcity. Everything changes when his friend strikes up a friendship with the school bully . . .
Renowned poet, novelist and playwright Owen Sheers, together with award-winning illustrator, Helen Stephens, bring to life in Drew, Moo and Bunny, Too, the adventures of a little boy, Drew, who sets off on a journey with his best friends, Bunny and Moo. Carried across the skies on a magic carpet powered by friendship, the trio marvels at wonders of the natural world — a whale’s moonlit waterspout, a tiger fast asleep — until danger looms in the form of pirates on the dark sea. Can they find their way home? Drew, Moo and Bunny, Too was created in collaboration with Mel and Jon, founders of the Drew Barker-Wright Charity, in loving memory of their son Drew.
In There’s a Tiger on the Train by Mariesa Dulak, illustrated by Rebecca Cobb, our attachment to phones is confronted with playful wit and a
vivid imagination. It’s the perfect day for a seaside trip. But who invited the Tiger in the top hat . . . and all those other animals? And will Dad ever look up from his phone? A rhythmic, rhyming romp about the value of living in the moment and spending quality time with those you love.
Shortlisted for Oscar’s Book Prize 2025
Nominated for the Carnegie Medal for Illustration 2025
Shortlisted for the UKLA Book Award 2025
Shortlisted for the Indie Book Award 2024
BUY There’s a Tiger on the Train
The Blockbusters! is a hilarious, heart-warming adventure by the UK Children’s Laureate 2024-2026 Frank Cottrell-Boyce, and is illustrated by Steven Lenton. When new boy Rafa and his friends accidentally stray onto the set of a Hollywood blockbuster, the last thing they expect is to become part of the action. Rafa’s likeness to the famous movie star, BB, gives him VIP access all areas, including the banquet of catering doughnuts! But Rafa isn’t the only one having an adventure. His big brother, Cillian, is missing . . .
Catherine Rayner’s Otto the Top Dog is a delightful and amusing tale about the joys, and limitations, of sharing. Otto adores his basket and happily shares it with a friend — until word spreads and every dog in the neighbourhood, strays included, piles in. Soon, everyone’s enjoying his basket except Otto himself.
Irish-born, Bristol-based Yasmeen Ismail is an award-winning author, illustrator, and animator. Her first picture book, Time for Bed, Fred, won the V&A Best Illustrated Book Award and The New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award. A picture book featuring an irrepressible and irresistible dog and his diversionary tactics, when the clock chimes 8 o’clock, it is an endearing and playful way to get your child to bed!
Catherine Johnson’s Race to the Frozen North is a compelling reimagining of the extraordinary life of Matthew Henson, the first African
American to reach the North Pole, told by Carnegie-nominated author Catherine Johnson. Matthew Henson was an ordinary man — until the day Commander Robert E. Peary invited him to join a very special expedition. From that moment, Henson became navigator, craftsman, interpreter and indispensable partner on the perilous race to the top of the world. Battling brutal conditions and the prejudice of his time, he carved his place in history as a true trailblazer. This is the powerful, little-known story of a hero who helped change the map of the world.
Alom Shaha’s How to Find a Rainbow, illustrated by Sarthak Sinha, is a bright, uplifting tale about finding light in the grimest of skies. Reena can’t stand rainy days. The heavy clouds make the world feel grey and lifeless. Rekha, on the other hand, delights in them — the smell of rain on the warm earth, the promise of something magical. So when Rekha spots a rainbow, she races indoors to share the news. Reena will want to paint it, of course! But by the time they rush back out, the rainbow has vanished. Where did it go?
SF Said’s Tyger is winner of the 2023 British Book Award for Children’s Fiction Book of the Year & The Week Junior’s Children’s Book of the Year: Older Fiction! Picture London today where a day out could mean prejudice, profiling and discrimination based on race, religion, class — take your pick. I live it daily: online, in headlines, in lyrics and scripts, in street talk, even from people I love at times. Now imagine this isn’t the only London, the only reality. Imagine infinite Earths, infinite versions of us, every reality existing at once, within the flicker of infinitesimal time. Would that knowledge shift our view of life? Would we feel more hopeful — believing a better self exists elsewhere — or would “I wish I lived in another reality” become as common as sighing about the weather? If we knew we were all part of one huge body stretching across parallel realities, would prejudice, borders and wars finally lose their power?
The Children’s Bookshow 2025 tour dates & venues . . .
Michael Rosen | Friday 22 September, 10.30am & 1.30pm, Theatre Royal, Newcastle NE1 6BR;
Megumi Iwasa & Jun Takabate | Wednesday 27 September, 11am Stafford Gatehouse ST16 2LT;
Judith Kerr & John Burningham | Friday 29 September, 11am The Old Vic, London SE1 8NB;
Clare Farrow & Guo Yue | Monday 2 October, 11am The Curve, Leicester LE1 1SB;
Rachel Rooney | Tuesday 3 October, 11am, King’s Hall, Ilkley LS29 8HB;
Michael Rosen | Thursday 12 October, 11am, The Grand, Wolverhampton WV1 1DE;
Jo Empson | Tuesday 17 October, 11am, Courtyard, Hereford HR4 9JR;
David Litchfield | Thursday 19 October, 11am, New Wolsey, Ipswich IP1 2AS;
Michael Rosen | Friday 20 October, 11am, Bristol Hippodrome BS1 4UZ;
Bruce Ingman | Wednesday 1 November, 11am, De La Warr, Bexhill-on-Sea TN40 1DP;
Daniel Morden | Thursday 2 November, 11am, Liverpool Philharmonic L1 9BP;
Jessica Souhami | Wednesday 8 November, 11am The Marina, Lowestoft NR32 1HH;
Kitty Crowther | Thursday 16 November, 11am, L’InstitutFrançais, London SW7 2DT;
Horatio Clare & Jane Matthews | Wednesday 22 November, 11am Theatre Royal Plymouth PL1 2TR;
Timo Parvela, Virpi Talvitie, Kätlin Vainola, Ulla Saar, Alexis Deacon, Eugene Ostashevsky, Nicolette Jones, Adam Freudenberg & Jen Shenton | Friday 24th November, all day, Europe House, London SW1P 3EU.
The Children’s Bookshow, a registered charity no. 1162410, is a national tour of some of the best children’s writers and illustrators from around the world.
BookBlast interview with the founder of the Children’s Bookshow
BookBlast interview with Julia Marshall Gecko Press
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